The
Tribune: Kurukshetra: Friday, November 30, 2018.
The
Kurukshetra University (KU) on Thursday suspended Dr Virender S Poonia, an
associate professor, for allegedly threatening his students in the commerce
department repeatedly. He had allegedly threatened to fail them in internal
assessment for lodging a complaint against him.
The
executive council, the highest decision-making body of the university, today
also approved findings of an internal committee holding Poonia guilty of
allegedly using indecent language in the classrooms.
Prof
Manjula Chaudhary, who headed the three-member committee, told The Tribune that
more than 14 students, including girls, had recorded their statements before
the committee alleging Poonia’s misconduct.
She
said that the most common complaint against the accused teacher was that he was
not delivering lectures in the classes.
“The
students even produced an audio CD in which Poonia was heard talking to the
students in indecent language in the classroom. It was also alleged that Poonia
used to force his students to arrange paid subscriptions for a magazine
published by his wife. All charges were found true and the committee had
recommended strict action against the accused,” she said.
In
another case, the KU today chargesheeted Poonia for allegedly abusing the RTI
Act to harass KU staff and tarnishing the image of the university.
The
action was based on another committee charging Poonia for “seeking personal
information of the officials” and “seeking information without any public
interest”.
The
executive council quoted State Information Commission’s ruling that Poonia was
engaged in impractical demands and sundry information unrelated to transparency
and accountability.
Poonia
has reportedly filed more than 250 RTI petitions in 43 different branches of
the KU.
Poonia
is not new to controversy and on October 14, 2016, the executive council had
unanimously awarded compulsory retirement for him for being guilty of
plagiarism. Later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted stay on KU’s
orders.
Poonia
was held guilty of plagiarism by two inquiry panels of the university but
punitive action was kept pending for the past more than nine years.
He
was indicted for stealing a research paper from Guru Nanak Dev University,
Amritsar. Prof Amarjit S Sidhu, a senior faculty member from GNDU’s University
Business School, complained to the Indian Journal of Industrial Relations
(IJIR) in 2007 of plagiarism by Poonia.
A
one-member committee of Dr RK Behl in 2007 held Poonia guilty of fraudulently
getting an article published in his name and two others in the prestigious
IJIR.
Meanwhile,
Poonia rubbished the charges claiming he was being framed in a conspiracy.
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